Gismo Queen and her King

At sea - Friday 16th October

What a great finale tonight! The show was so good, with all the artists getting back on stage to do at least one song each, and then at the end they did a joint song (pretty badly, but they had next to no rehearsal!). We queued from 5pm to get our usual seats and we did with our new friends from Sale. The martini of the day was called Ruby Red so that helped pass the time! It was all a bit sad that this was the end but Pete Denahy (a singer/entertainer from Yackandandah) who hosted all of the shows kept the fun rolling with his terrible jokes and his fill-in comments between artists as they re-set the stage. He made comments about how sad we were all going to be getting off the ship and how long it would take us to readjust to normal life - where our beds don't get made for us every day, where we don't have a personal waiter at the dining table, and where you will actually have to hand over cash for a drink at the bar rather than swiping your SeaPass card.

This was one element of cruising that was very easy (and scary when you get the final bill). No money changes hands on the ship and your SeaPass card (which you wear on a lanyard around your neck) is your room key and your "cash" for anything over and above what was included in the cruise price. In particular - alcohol! And their pathetic attempts at cappucino! It also got you on and off the ship at ports (didn't need our passports), was your ID etc. But it did mean that you didn't have to carry anything around the ship - no handbag, wallet. Hence it was very easy to buy cocktails and get a fright later when you checked your statement on the TV in the room!

We had to pack our bags today and put them outside our room by 11pm (obviously leaving enough for overnight and tomorrow) as we dock quite early in Sydney tomorrow. So we did that before and after dinner, and I finished off while Greg won a heap more money at the casino!

Earlier in the day, we had breakfast with the drummer from the band who supported every act. You have to give them due credit - they had to learn all the music and all the songs of every performer. They were all artists from Australia and have supported many of the artists at various gigs. I did notice they have iPads mounted on their microphone poles which obviously had the music and words. They did an amazing job though. Also at our breakfast table were the friends from the Pakenham couple yesterday who after hearing who I was said "we've heard about you" (from their friends who obviously also commented on the small world). We then did some more shopping and went for a wander before the matinee show today in the main theatre of Amber Lawrence. I really liked her music. We only started for the first half as we had promised ourselves we would eat lunch in the main dining room today, given we have not managed to do so all week! And what a shame we hadn't as they had the most amazing salad bar - even Greg liked it. The problem with the main dining room as a lunch venue was that it closed at 1pm - and when you don't finish breakfast until 10:30am, that's too early!

After lunch we watched the Bushwhackers again - they are an amazing band, and even more amazing that they ar still going after 45 years. Then it was time to change, pack and the grand finale show.

We were looking forward to our final dinner with our table companions and our lovely waiters. I couldn't decide between the scallops or the escargot for entree (the latter had been reccomended to me) so Mariska brought both to me! We had plenty of laughs, a great meals, photos with us all, and then they even brought out a slice of birthday cake for me, and for the young girl on our table whose birthday is a week after mine. It was a great night, but now it really is feeling a little sad that it's all coming to an end and we have to get up so early in the morning to disembark.

posted by Tracey @ 2:57 pm